So you want to go to Disney World, but you only have two days. How do you decide which two parks to go to? What if you are in Orlando for 10 days, will Disney occupy you for all ten days or should you do something else? Should you get a park hopper if you are only there for two days?
Before we began to answer the questions, I think it is first important that you understand how big Disney World is. The size of the entire Walt Disney World resort is 40 Square miles, or the size of San Francisco. Yes, you heard that right, the same size as the city of San Francisco. The main attractions include 4 major theme parks, 2 waterparks, and Disney Springs shopping district. And just to give you an idea of how popular the 4 major parks are, they are ranked #1 Magic Kingdom (19,332,000 visitors in 2014) , #3 Epcot (11,454,000 visitors in 2014), #4 Animal Kingdom (10,402,000 visitors in 2014), and #5 Hollywood Studios (10,402,000 visitors in 2014) on the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) list of top theme parks. And the only park to beat out Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios is Disney World’s sister park, Disneyland.
If you want to see just about everything the 4 major parks have to offer, I recommend that your trip last a minimum of 5 days. This would allow you to spend 2 days at Magic Kingdom and 1 day at each of the other parks. Even with 5 days, there will still be many things that you will not get to see, but you will get to see most of what you are interested in. If you are going more than 5 days, you can spend the extra day, or days going back to your favorite park another time, exploring the water parks, or maybe just taking it a little slower and finding a little extra time to rest by the pool. If you did not know already, a Disney vacation can be very tiring. I frequently record in excess of 10 miles a day walking on my phone’s step counting app.
So planning a trip for 5 days or more is pretty easy, what do you do if you have less than 5 days. This is a really difficult question to provide a direct answer, as I believe every avid Disney guest may have a different answer and recommendation. The best way to determine which park to go to really depends on the age of your children, if you have any; and your personal preference. Let’s briefly look at each park and what they have to offer to determine which parks to select on a 2 day, 3 day, or 4 day trip.
Magic Kingdom is the most well known of the four parks and it is the park that started it all. When anyone thinks of Walt Disney World, most thoughts revolve around Magic Kingdom and Cinderella’s Castle. Magic Kingdom by far has the most rides and attractions and it can easily take two days to really see it all (or most of it). There are rides for young and old, as well as shows, parades, and an amazing firework show to cap off the night. If your trip is four days or less, I would consider a 2nd day at Magic Kingdom, even if it means skipping one of the other parks completely.
Hollywood Studios is the second favorite park for my family, but as you can see by the listing of TEA’s top theme park by attendance, it is the least favorite of most other guests. The knock on this park is that is very small and just does not have very many things to do. If you combine that with all the closures that have occurred over the last two years, many people are now questioning if it is worth wasting a day at Hollywood Studios at all. I think one reason that I see this very differently than others is largely because my family is very young. Some of the unique offerings, such as Disney Jr Live on Stage; would not appeal to anyone over 8 years old. This park also includes many shows, which can cause your day to go by pretty quickly if you watch 3 or 4 of them. Although, this would have no impact on any trip that you may be planning in the next year or two; Hollywood Studios is in the process of a major renovation that will include a Toy Story Land and a Star Wars land in the next several years. Rumor is that there may also be another major addition to the park that has yet to be announced.
Epcot is quite the opposite of Hollywood Studios in terms of my family compared to most. With young children, I find there is very little for them to do in Epcot. There are a few rides and attractions, but there are quite a few characters (namely princesses) around world showcase. I believe the attraction at Epcot is the food and the countries around the world. If you are very interested in getting a small taste of the culture and food of several different countries, all in a days time; this is the place that may capture your attention.
Animal Kingdom is quite unique compared to the other three the Disney Parks. On my first few visits, I definitely felt that it was just a large zoo with very little attractions. In recent years, I have learned to appreciate the park a little more. While the number of actual attractions may be small, there are several smaller activities in the park to do. There are trails that showcase unique animals, and my children love earning there wilderness explorer badges for learning about the animals and nature. The park is also very shaded and has a little more of a relaxing experience than the other parks. I look forward to Animal Kingdom as a little bit of a rest day on our vacations now. Whether or not you want to visit Animal Kingdom on your trip may depend on whether you want to go,go,go; or if you want a little more of a laid back day. I would also argue that the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom is one of the best shows on the property. Although Animal Kingdom has always closed earlier than other parks, and also lacked night time entertainment, that is all about to change. River of Lights is a new form of night time entertainment that will debut at the park in the Spring of 2016. There will also be a new night time Safari that will be offered when the park stays open later.
Should we buy a park hopper? The simple answers is wait on the park hopper. As long as you have one day remaining on your park ticket, Disney will allow you to upgrade your ticket at any ticket window for no additional fee. You will only pay the difference between your original ticket and the park hopper ticket. The only trick is that if you were able to buy a discounted Disney ticket, the ticket will first need to be upgraded to a full price ticket before upgrading to a park hopper. Because the Disney parks are so big, getting in and out of the parks, into the parking lot, into your car/ boarding a bus, can take a lot of time. If you also have children to consider, park “hopping” can be extremely challenging and tiring. Now, if you are running around with several youthful teenagers, you might not have a problem park hopping. In all my visits to Walk Disney World, I have only “park hopped” to see the night time entertainment in a different park, after taking a mid day break with our young children. I may also add that, as season pass holders, the park hopping option is included in the season pass with no additional costs. On the trips that we did park hop, I would have never considered doing so, if it would have required an upgrade fee of approximately $50. The main advice on the park hopper, is wait until you get to Disney and complete your first day before even considering an upgrade fee.
Choosing which park to go to is largely a matter of preference. For my family, I would consider the parks in the following order if we only had between two to four days:
Two Days : Magic Kingdom then a toss up between Magic Kingdom/Hollywood Studios
Three Days: 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 day at Hollywood Studios
Four Days: 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 day at Hollywood Studios, 1 day at Animal Kingdom
As mentioned earlier, most Disney guest much prefer Epcot to Hollywood Studios. It is definitely a matter of personal choice. But as long as you have fun, does it really matter?
Mouse Guide To Walt 